Loom selvage motion



Oct. 11, 1960 M'. R. FLAMAND 2,955,619

' LOOM SELVAGE MOTION Filed Nov. 24, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.MAURICE R. FLAMAND A TTORNE Y 1960 I M. R. FLAMAND 2,955,619

LOOM SELVAGE MOTION Filed Nov. 24, 1953 s Sheets-Sheet 2 I: s INVENTOR.:5. MAURICE R. FLAMAND I BY 'WMK A TTORIYEY Oct. 11, 1960 M. R. FLAMAND2,955,619

' LOOM SELVAGE MOTION Filed Nov. 24, 1958 s Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR.MAURICE R. HLAMAND A TTORIVE Y United States PatentOfiice 29556192,955,619 LOOM SELVAGE MOTION Maurice R. Flamand, Lonsdale, R.I.,assignor to Draper Corporation, Hopedale, Mass., a corporation of MarneFiled Nov. 24, 1958, Ser. No. 775,860 8 Claims. (Cl. 139-55) Thisinvention relates to selvage motions for looms, and, in particular, to amethod and apparatus wherein interspaced groups of selvage warp threadsare controlled separately from the main warp body to result in a selvagehaving a particularly desirable weave.

This application is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No.688,156, filed October 4, 1957, now abandoned.

It is a general object of the invention to devise a selvage motion forlooms of all types and which is particularly desirable for looms whereincut filling ends are inserted, such as in shuttleless looms, while atthe same time the selvage threads are caused to cross a considerabledistance below the center position incidental to their movement in avertical direction.

It is a further object to provide an improved and efrective selvagemotion embodying a pair of harnesses for. warp threads at each selvagewhich shall operate Without need for overhead connection and which shallemploy a simple and effective cam motion to impart a motion to theselvage warp threads wherein they are crossed to their extreme verticalpositions only on alternate picks, but are brought to a substantiallylevel posi tion on the intermediate picks. According to this method eachpick of filling may be held so that it will not snap back into the mainwarp body.

It is a further object to provide a selvage'rnotion including a harnessmechanism having heddles which includes a bell crank lever connected tothe lower ends of said harnesses, and a cam means for controllingmovement of the lever so that the selvage threads are held in PatentedOct. 11', 1960 is greater due to the weaving of the heavier material inthe same unit of area as is occupied by the lighter material in otherparts of the fabric.

These undesirable results can be avoided by crossing the filling andwarp threads in the selvage a lesser number of times than in the mainbody of the cloth, for example, by inserting two fillings in the selvagebefore the warp selvage threads are permitted to cross to form theweave.

In applicants copending application Serial No. 633,696, filed Januaryv11, 1957, now Patent No. 2,924,247, a novel warp selvage motion for ashuttleless loom has been disclosed wherein the warp selvage threads areheld in the same position so as to permit the insertion of twofilling-threads thereinto before they are crossed. That applicationfurther discloses a novel mechanism whereby the warp selvage threads arecaused to cross each other at a considerable distance below the centerposition inc idental to their vertical movemen Y The present inventionis drawn to a modification-of such an apparatus whereby the warp selvagethreads are manipulated to restrain the loose end of a first insertedfilling thread from being displaced or losing tension.

The method and apparatus may be more readily under stood by reference tothe accompanying drawings, where- 1n: 1

d Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view, in front elevation, of a selvage heddlemechanism embodying the present invention, looking in the direction ofarrow a, Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view, in side elevation, of the same mechanismlooking in' the direction of arrow b, Fig. 1. V Fig. 3-is a sectiontaken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

a substantially level position while other portions of the warp are inan open position on alternate picks and the selvage threads are crossedto their extreme position on the intermediate picks, the crossing of theselvage threads taking place at a considerable distance below the centerposition incidental to their movement in a vertical direcof the harnessframes for the main warp body and which is. reciprocated verticallywithout the need of any over-' head mechanism. 'f .f.

f ,Qther objects will become apparent from the following more detaileddisclosure. e

I In weaving of a fabric it is customary to form a selvage on eitherside of the fabric which is eifectiveto prevent tearing of the formedfabric due to lateral forces subjected thereto by the reed in thebeat-'up motion. A selvage is also necessary duringsubsequent processingof the fabric to prevent undesirable curling of the sides and to preventunravelling of the threads. It is therefor'e'desirableio utilize warpthreads for the selvage which" are stronger and heavier than: the mainbody of warp. The use of such heavier threads Iresultsfin a selyagewherein'the density of fabric is greater than that of the remainder ofthe material and wherein the tension Fig. 4 is a perspective view of theupper guide member for a pair of the selvage harness members shown inFig. 2.

Fig- 5 is a fragmentary view, in front elevation, of the left-hand endportion of a loom as viewed from thefront showing the association of.the selvage heddle mechanism of Fig. 1 with the cam shedding motion.

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the mechanism of Fig.5 looking in thedirection of arrow 0. V e

Fig. 7 is a front view in elevation of a cam which will give the desiredmotion to the selvage harnesses.

Fig. 8'is a front elevational view of a modified form of cam.

Fig. 9 is an end elevationof the cams shown in Figs. 7 and 81 includingtheir mounting gear member.

Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing the differential movement andrelative positions of a pair of cooperating harness frames at diflerentpoints in their cycle and afiords atmathematical explanation for thecrossing of the warp selvage threads at a level a considerable distancebelow the center position incidental to their vertical movement.

Fig. 11 is a front elevation of a modified form of the selvage harnessstructure shown in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a spring keeper which is used in theharness structure of Fig. 11.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 parts ofa shuttleless loom including main harness frames 10, three of which aredepicted in Fig, 2,

and which are suspended from an overhead spring top motion of knownconstruction including a pair of brack-V ets, one of which is shown at11. Spring'biased cords 12 running over a series of sheaves 13 supportthe harnesses, which are controlled from below by cam means such as thatdisclosed in United States Patent No. 2,637,

beam 'of'warp threads or on separate spools, are provided at each sideof the loom and threaded through and controlled by heddles 14 mounted ona selvage harness frame 15 which comprises an elongated fiat strip-likebody having openings thereinat 16, 17 and 18, forming sup porting crossbars l9 and 20 therebetween. The heddles each have a central warp eye(not shown) C-shaped' or other shaped ends 21'and 22 into which arereceived the cross-bars. The upper harness frame 15 is slidably receivedinto a vertical groove 23 on one side 24 of a guide block 25. Theharness frames are utilized in pairs and a second frame 26, similar instructure to frame 15, is received into a second slot (not shown) on theopposite side of the guide block. The latter is supported by an angularbracket 27 fixed at one end to the bracket 11 and supporting a rod 28 atits other end which is received into an opening 29 in the upper portionof the guide block. A bolt 30 holds the guide block in position on therod 28. Such a structure permits lateral adjustment of the upper end ofthe selvage harness frame in accordance with the width of the fabricbeing woven. The harness frame 15 is attached at its lower end to aslotted cross tree 31 by means of a bolt 32 for lateral adjustment ofthat end. A second cross tree 33 (Figs. and 6) is attached to the lowerend of harness frame 26.

The cross trees are vertically reciprocated in opposite directions toimpart a shedding motion to the selvage harness frames, each of whichhas one-half of the selvage threads for one side of the fabric threadedthrough its heddles. These harness frames are crossed to their extremevertical positions on alternate picks and brought to a point where theselvage threads just meet, which is at a levela considerable distancebelow the center position incidental to their movement, on theintermediate picks by a shedding mechanism presently to be described.

Cross trees 31 and 33 have their lower ends fixed to guide bars 34 and35, respectively, which are restrained for vertical movement in guidegrooves in a bracket 36 fixed to frame member 37 by means of bolts 38and 39. A further bracket member 40, including a bearing portion 41 forthe usual main cam shaft 42 and a curved portion 43, is fixed to frame37 'by means of bolts 44, 45 and 46. Bracket 40 further supports afreely oscillatable shaft 47 which has fixed to one end thereof a bellcrank lever having arms 48 and 49 whose ends are pivotally connected tocurved lever member 50 and straight lever 51, respectively. The upperends of these lever members are pivotally connected, one each, to thelower ends of guide bars 34 and 35. The main cam shaft 42 has fixedthereto a pinion 52 which is engageable with a gear member 53 freelyrotatable on the other end of shaft 47. Cam members 54 and 55 are fixedone to either side of gear 53 and have a shape to be describedhereinafter. Shaft 47 is oscillated through an arc of 90 degrees bymeans of a lever 56 pivoted at 57 having cam followers 58 and 59 mountedintermediate thereof and having its free end connected to connectinglink 60 which is pivoted to one end of a further link 61 whose other endis fixed to shaft 47. Lever 50 is curved only so as to avoidinterference with cam shaft 42.

As a result of such a structure the crossing of the warp selvage threadsduring shedding will take place at a level a considerable distance belowthe exact center position incidental to their vertical movement.Reference to Fig. will afford a mathematical explanation of the reasonwhy this is so. Numerals 48 and 49 represent the two arms of the bellcrank lever shown in Fig. 6 while numerals 50 and 51 represent the twolinks connected to the ends of the arms 48 and 49, respectively. As arm48 moves at a constant rate from a horizontal to a vertical position, orfrom points 1 to 5 which are equally spaced in the left quadrant, theupper end of link 50, since it is limited to vertical movement by aguide groove in bracket 36, will move corresponding amounts also marked1 to 5 vertically which gradually decrease in amount, or, in otherwords, the upper end of link 50 will move more rapidly in that portionof the cycle when the arm 48 is traversing the arc marked 0' than itwill move when the arm covers the equal angular distance marked A in theleft quadrant of Fig. 10.

Similarly, the upper end of link 51 will move at a faster rate when arm49 traverses the arc marked D than it will move when the arm traversesthe are marked B in the right hand quadrant. Therefore, since the links50 and 51 are always moving in opposite directions, one is always movingdownwardly from its topmost point at a fairly rapid rate while the otheris moving upwardly at a slower rate and the tops of the links will crossat a point which is below the center position incidental to theirvertical movement.

Gear member 53 may be reversed in position so that either cam 54 or 55may effect the shedding movement. Cam 54 as shown in Fig. 7 will affectmovement of the selvage warp threads in a manner such that they arebrought from a first open position to a level position or just barelycrossing after a first pick has been inserted, they will then open backto the same, or nearly to the same first position,'then after insertionof a second filling thread they will cross to'an extreme position tocomplete the cycle. Thus, the warp selvage threads will cross only onevery other pick so that two filling threads may be inserted in theselvage for each crossing of the warp threads. On the intermediate picksthe warp selvage threads are brought level or slightly past the crossingposition in order to take hold of a first filling which has beeninserted and to prevent its becoming displaced or losing tension. Thistype of motion is particularly desirable in looms where cut filling endsare inserted.

The form of cam shown in Fig. 8 will permit a crossing of the warpselvage threads on every pick rather than every other pick.

A modified form of selvage harness frame has been shown in Fig. 11wherein 14' indicates the heddles mounted on a frame member 15' havingopenings 16, 17' and 18' therein forming cantilever cross-bars. Theheddles in this structure have their ends formed as slotted loops sothat they may be slid in place over the cross-bars. A spring member S isslid onto the free end of each crossbar to retain the heddles in place.

While one embodiment and a modification of the invention has beendisclosed, it is to be understood that the inventive concept may becarried out in a number of ways. This invention is, therefore, not to belimited to the precise details described, but is intended to embrace allvariations and modifications thereof falling within the spirit of theinvention and the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In a loom for weaving, a main warp harness mechanism for controllinga main body of warp threads, a selvage harness mechanism including apair of harness frames having heddles for selvage threads movable toshed said selvage threads to extreme vertical positions above and belowa position whereat they are crossed, and means to reciprocate saidselvage harness mechanism and heddles so that they are crossed toexchange said extreme vertical positions only on alternate picks of theloom, and are brought to substantially said position whereat they arecrossed on intermediate picks.

2. In a loom for weaving, a main warp harness mechanism for controllinga main body of warp threads, a selvage harness mechanism including apair of harness frames having heddles for selvage threads movable toshed said selvage threads to extreme vertical positions above and belowa position whereat they are crossed, and means to reciprocate saidselvage harness mechanism and frames on each pick of the loom, and toexchange extreme vertical positions of said frames only on every otherpick of the loom. V

3. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein saidmeans comprises a bell cranklever connected to said frames, and cam means operatively arranged tooscillate said lever at a uniform speed.

4. In a selvage motion for a loom for weaving, a harness frame whichcomprises an elongated flat strip-like body having an opening therein,upper and lower support members extending from one side of said harnessframe part way across said opening, a plurality of heddles mounted onsaid support members, and means exerting lateral pressure on saidheddles to maintain them in position on said support means.

5. The mechanism of claim 4 wherein said means comprises a springmember, and said frame is guided for vertical movement by means fixed onsaid loom.

6. A method of controlling and locking loose tail ends of filling threadduring weaving of cut ends of filling in a fabric which comprisesseparately controlling two interspaced groups of selvage warp threadsbetween upper and lower limits of movement to form a shed between saidtwo groups, said groups being located adjacent a main Warp body andbeing adapted to cross each other at a substantially level position,holding said groups of selvage threads open in a first position toreceive a first filling thread, then bringing said groups to said levelposition to retain said thread, and then returning said groups to saidfirst position to receive a second filling thread immediately adjacentsaid first filling thread and thereafter crossing said selvage threadsto bind both filling ends in position. 1

7. A method of controlling and locking loose tail ends of filling threadduring weaving of cut ends of filling in a fabric which comprisesseparately controlling two interspaced groups of selvage warp threadsbetween upper and lower limits of movement to form a shed between saidtwo groups, said groups being located adjacent a main Warp body andbeing adapted to cross each other at a substantially level position,reciprocating said groups on each pick of the loom, and changing theposition of each of said groups from one of said upper and lower limitsto the other only on every other pick of the loom.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said groups are brought substantiallyto said level position on intermediate picks of the loom.

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